


The Stars Are Allied

by Fabricati, tluthal



Category: Breath of Fire
Genre: Action/Adventure, F/F, F/M, Fantasy, For Science!, Gen, Multi, Naked Science Parties, Other, Romance, Science Fiction, casual nudity
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-02-18
Updated: 2013-02-18
Packaged: 2017-11-29 17:09:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/689410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fabricati/pseuds/Fabricati, https://archiveofourown.org/users/tluthal/pseuds/tluthal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A night watching the stars turns into a whirlwind interplanetary HIGH ADVENTURE!</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Stars Are Allied

**Author's Note:**

> This work takes inspiration from the Breath of Fire games in general - particularly IV and III - and original elements to create a genre-hopping adventure. The story focuses primarily on three familiar faces, with the intention of adding in a larger cast as the story progresses.
> 
> Credit where it's due:  
> Tluthal mainly writes Nina and does ridiculous amounts of worldbuilding.  
> Fabricati mainly writes Ryu and does the references that fly right over Tlu's head.

On the highest tower of Castle Wyndia, a blonde, winged princess alighted delicately on the balcony surrounding an ancient observatory. This was followed by a much less graceful winged lizard plowing into the side of said observatory, hovering for a moment when it bounced off, and landing with an unceremonious wet THUMP. The girl winced to hear the impacts- both of them. The lizard sat on its rear haunches, shook its head as if it needed to clear it, and screeched a slightly pained screech.

Things crashing into the observatory tower being actually unusual when it wasn't hailing, a short grassrunner lady with long red hair and floppy ears peered curiously out of the observatory, and raised an eyebrow at the sight.

Nina waved and giggled, worry for the tiny lizard forgotten. "Momo! Momo, he flew!"

"Oh! It's you, Highness... I didn't even notice! It promises to be a good vie- He flew!? Really? I thought the wings were purely vestigial!" The grassrunner - Momo - rushed out to get a good look at the wings. "Huh... A growth spurt?"

Nina grinned widely. "Do you have a spare robe? He learned a new trick this morning."

"I suppose I do, Highness... but I don't think I have spare clothes in the observatory!" She descended to get a better look in her room. "But like I was saying, there promises to be a great view of - nnnaked kid!?"

Nina eeked and covered her face to spare her eyes the sight of her nude, and now human-looking, best friend. "Ryu! Wait for clothes! It'll be bad tactics if everyone expects it!"

The being sitting there is a little boy, not yet hit his growth, instead of what was clearly a dragon sitting there just a minute ago. He's a bit pudgy like one would expect the human form of a young, spoilt royal pet to be, and quite obviously not disturbed at all that he's naked as a jaybird. In fact, he was laughing about it even as Momo tossed the robe ONTO him instead of in front of him, covering him up like drapery over a table. Still, he nodded and struggled it on eventually. At this point, there wasn't any doubt about the boy's identity, his eyes were the same sort of eyes that the little dragon had.

Nina started to giggle too - she couldn't help it - and hugged Momo to make up for it.

He knew it would only work once on Momo, anyways; there were times in the hottest summer nights where she would open all the shutters and observe the stars naked rather than swelter. In her case, it was the surprise. Nina made a habit of joining her, since Momo was the only one who wouldn't scold her for such un-princess-like behavior as not sweltering in the long, lacy nightgown and fluffy robe expected of a delicate Wyndian princess.

"So what, are we going to have another in for our naked party next summer?" Momo asked with a slight smirk.

"If I Can't Learn To Control Clothing By Then, Maybe." The little boy nodded.

"See! I knew he could talk!"

"Yeah, he's learning really fast. You should have heard him talking to Daddy!" Nina hugged him to let him know she was poking fun **affectionately**.

"Yeeah whaen eye tawlk too fahsht it toorns out leyeke thiss."

The Wyndian abruptly remembered one of her so-called 'important princessly duties' - the introduction! "Dokukinoko Momo, it's my pleasure to present Ryu, my new guard."

Momo chuckled. "Ah, is that how it was sold? And when did you find out?"

"This morning!" Nina nodded. "I was readin' the Chronicles an' he got real excited. Started squealing right in my ear." She poked him in his in playful revenge.

"Eye Reememburred sumtheeng!" The little blue-haired boy nodded.

"... It's been a long time- almost seven years, wasn't it, Highness?"

Ryu nodded again!

"Yeah! I was what, eight?" Nina chimed in.

"Well, that explains why his language hasn't developed well!" The grassrunner posed triumphantly, with arms akimbo! Why yes, she does know she's smart. "If he's about thirteen now, he'd have juuust been learning to speak right when you found him. Were you stuck that way, Ryu? A curse?"

He shook his head, speaking slowly. "Didn't Know How To Change Back."

"An' I was reading..." Nina lowered her voice, even up here, "Neena's notes on transforming. Since nobody knows if the dragon's blood was in all the family, or just her."

Ninas and knowing too dang much - it's almost as classic as Ninas who know nothing.

"I Couldn't Read It. Words Don't Move Well, So I Can't Read Well In That Form."

"But you're doing very good at making sure you pronounce each word right, Ryu! With some practice, I bet you'll be able to talk as well as you think!" Momo praised the little boy.

"Yeah!" Nina hugged the young dragon again. "And he writes perfectly, Mr. Ironclaw couldn't shut up about it."

Momo raised an eyebrow at the fact that Nina was offering her new male guard as a perfect scribe for naked science parties. As for Ryu, he was trying his damnedest to make his expression look horrified at the thought of having to do something to remain in the middle of a naked science party, as if the very thought filled him with horror. Momo was not buying it. Neither was Nina.

"He does, huh. Can he transcribe notes?"

"I dunno. Whaddaya say?" Nina poked her dearest friend in the ribs playfully.

"Haven't Tried." He shrugged!

"Well then, what do you say to trying, since Momo's so excited about somethin' tonight?" Nina threw an arm around her _other_ dearest friend. "Speaking of, what's got you so excited?"

"Oh! There's a great view of Ashava tonight- it'll be moving riiiiight along the plane of the telescope!"

"Oooh! We'll have to come back up after dinner then. Do you need us to bring you food?" The princess teased the genius.

"Dinner? What is this thing called 'dinner'?" Momo teased right back.

Ryu was more than content to sit and let them banter; he wasn't quite ready to join in. Not because he felt excluded from them, but simply because he'd take too long, or the words wouldn't come out right, and he'd probably get frustrated and write it all down, which rather defeated the point of 'banter'.

"It's that thing you eat when the sky starts to get dark."

"NINA WYNLAN!"

"Aaand that's our cue to go get it."

The sight of a little winged lizard and the girl who claimed to own it was common enough in the grounds that no one commented on the governess dragging them both towards the dinner hall.

_Later_

Two hours after sunset, said girl and lizard were busy sneaking their way up to the observatory tower of the oldest part of the castle. "Sssh!" The girl froze!

A guard clanked past the statue-like princess, who waited with bated breath for another several heartbeats-

The lizard peeked his head out of the hiding place and cricked ridges in his head as if putting them on a swivel would make it easier to detect a guard in chain. He nodded, and knocked- quietly- on the observatory door a moment later.

Momo opened the door for them. "I hope you didn't have too much trouble- they stepped up the guard tonight..."

Nina darted in and pulled the hood of a dark blue cloak down. "Nah, I snuck up here right after bro-" She cut herself off and shook her head. "Anyways, not much trouble. I suppose Mother found out the truth about Ryu and is in a fit of pique about proper princessly behavior again."

"As if she had many people of her station to compare notes with," Momo said, shaking her head. "Anyway, in, in, I need to close the door."

"Right right," Once Nina was inside, and certain Ryu was inside, she closed the door. "So we'll have a perfect view of Ashava, huh?"

"That's what I predicted anyway, we'll see if my model's right tonight!" Nyo ho ho, Momo looked very pleased with herself.

"If I snuck out for nothing, I'm going to wash your ears!" Nina cheerfully threatened her friend, and floated her way over to the viewing area.

What Nina saw wasn't one little blinking star. It was... one big, blinking star, and four smaller ones, sitting around it. "So how's it look?"

"... _Awesome_." Nina stared in wonder. "T-this is amazing, Momo!"

"I should hope so, it took me months to get it all cleaned up again. But Ashava's there? How out of place is it, let me see-"

Momo, Ryu, and Nina all struggled for a moment to get a better look.

"H-hey!" Nina, of course, was the first one thrown out of the fray. She pouted in frustration, and latched onto the hem of Momo's robe in revenge, pulling and tugging the small dog-woman backwards determinedly. "You jerks!"

Ryu crooned triumphantly as, still in dragon form, he tried to get a better look, shifting his head this way and that once he looked at the eyepiece. ... This was clearly no good because he left it alone and descended the stairs, presumably to change into something a little less scaly and predatory.

Momo looked in the eyepiece. "Wow! It's exactly where I said it would be! And all it took was making the sun immobile!" She was VERY pleased, writing down chicken scratch notes as she continues to look through the refurbished ancient bit of glassware.

"Whaaaaat?" Nina blinked. "Making the sun immobile?"

"Uh... Well. You know how hard it is to predict the wandering stars, right? Ashava, Enkidu, Virgo, Typhus, and the Cloud of Shiva..." Momo started. "It's because in the night sky, they move in these weird spirally paths, called 'epicycles'." Momo made a swirly curlicue with her finger, even as Ryu came up the stairs in one of her robes again. It smelled nice and was in a bin with a bunch of other crumpled stuff, so he was sure she wouldn't mind. Besides, it was a little cold.

"Um... Okay?" Nina sat down and crossed her legs, rested her elbows on her knees, and her chin in her hands.

"Well... I was looking at the positions, and I realized that Enkidu moves in a biiiiig sort of beany circle." She draws it in the air. "And it sort of looks like what'd happen if you took a hoop and bent it. So... I thought maybe our Venus isn't one of the equants."

"Ehkwant?" Ryu asked.

Nina tilted her head to the side, looking a little bit lost, but clearly trying to follow along.

"Ah... An equant is one of two points about which the wanderers revolve. It's been thought that the wanderers are... Moving in the sky like a smaller gear stuck on the inside of a larger gear. Moving in little circles- that's the 'epicycle'- around a bigger circle- a 'deferent'. So... I started with the biggest, brightest thing I could think of to stick in an equant."

"Cronus and Shiva?" Nina blinked and slowly raised an eyebrow. The sun and its cloud?

"Yeah, I know, it sounds _stupid_ , but it worked! The epicycles are much smaller and slower now, and they work better!" She chortled her self-aggrandizing chortle again. "Why I bet there are some navigators who would _love_ this system!"

"If you say so, Momo. Since you're on this track though, how come Ashava's never shown having companions in the textbooks?"

"Huh?" She looked through the telescope again. "... So she does!"

Nina's eyes lit up. "Momo, did I just discover something?" A crazy grin made the princess' face seem to glow with glee.

"Hmm. Are you willing to come up here night after night just to record all the movements?" Momo asked.

"Yes!"

"... I suppose we can share it, then, once we have them all." Momo was teasing, but she would like to see her friend once in a while without Her Snot breathing down their necks.

Nina giggled, standing up to hug Momo. "This'll be so much fun!"


End file.
